Page:Scarlet Sister Mary (1928).pdf/220

 Her effort to get gay met with a dead silence, Ben frowned, and Maum Hannah's eyes were filled with distress.

"May-e, honey, de way you do pure hurts me to my heart. I ain' got much longer to live in dis world an' I know it, but I couldn' rest easy in Heaven if you an' Ben was to miss an' lose you souls. Hell is a awful place."

When she took up a corner of her apron to wipe the water out of her eyes, Mary got up quickly and went to her and, putting her arms around the old woman's shoulders, began trying to soothe her as she soothed little troubled children.

"Don' fret, Auntie, please don' fret. Me an' Ben ain' gwine to be lost. No. We is gwine to seek an' pray in plenty o time. All-two o we is gwine to set right beside you in Heaven some o these days. You'll see. Ben is gwine to stop sayin so much-a sinful words, an' I'm a-gwine to pray, myself, sometime soon. I ain' gwine to wait so much longer to repent—not so much longer, Auntie"

The sight of Maum Hannah's sorrow made Mary feel sad enough to get down on her knees and start praying right then. She could not bear to see suffering, and Maum Hannah's tears would make her promise anything on earth. It had al-